Israel once gain made an epoch move in the history of Middle East Peace Process on March 22, 2004 when their wrong strategic policy was executed for the suppression of Hamas in target assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a wheelchair-bound 67 year old highest-profile Palestinian figure an unyielding symbol of resistance to Israel’s and the spiritual cum founder leader of Hamas. It was an action made to put all balls in Palestine (Hamas) Court for further strengthening & giving coup-de-grace to the founding principles of Hamas.
However, bereft Hamas immediately chooses its new leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, a strong voice of agitation against Israel’s illegal occupant of Palestinian territories. Rantissi believe in all sources including suicide bombing to employ or to show reaction over actions of Israeli genocide atrocities against Palestinian civilians. While clearing the status of Hamas he stated "They are not terrorists; they are a response to Israeli terrorism, individual and governmental, against Palestinian civilians." Arrested number of times during the first Palestinian Intifada in late 1980s and early 1990s, Rantissi was also deported to Lebanon. His relations with Palestinian government went sour when he demanded resignations of key authoritative senior Palestinian in 1998, while accusing Palestinian authority in collaboration with Israel authority. Undoubtedly, Mr. Abdel Aziz will prove himself as a lethal weapon for Israeli governmental lobby by filling the vacuum of Hamas leadership.
From historical perspective Hamas is largest Palestinian militant Islamist organization, the main opponent of Israel’s illegal occupation of 1967. Since its origin in 1987 by late Sheikh Yassin, Hamas had become an irritating factor severely criticized by Israeli government lobby to act or train Palestinian resurgent force for suicide bombing, further delaying the so called peace agreements & negotiations to proceed. Hamas acronym for Harkat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya or Islamic Resistance Movement is an Arabic word means “Zeal” or “Fervor.” Hamas while using their right to fight perception considers suicide bombing as legitimate and sin-quo-none priority against Israel genocide. In is his aim to liberate or create a single Islamic state with in historical Palestine largely dichotomizing between self created and belfour supported Israeli illegal occupation of West Bank and Gaza strip.
Equipped with political cum military wing besides drawing and funded by thousands of charged members, activists, supporters and sympathizers across the globe, Hamas is proved to be the most annoying chapter in Israel’s aim of expending Israeli civilian settlements spread over most of Palestinian civilian states.
Besides having an eye to eye contact with Israeli forces, Hamas engagements includes social infrastructural development of Palestine in the form of building hospitals, schools and religious institution. Hamas extensive network is not just restricted in Palestine or other Arab origin states but is activated around the world. It is a wrong perception that Hamas is mainly rely over the funded support of the Islamic extremists favoring suicide bombing in Israeli occupied territory. Infect the bourgeois class of Palestine living in Palestine or offshore, if not financially but morally support the perception behind Hamas evolution i.e. to liberate the previous status of Palestine occupied with illegally, heinously, criminally or in the absence of the rule of law by Israeli forces.
Number of radical reforms, road maps, declarations, negotiation by US & UN has been made from time to time for adoptable and implemented initiatives to resolve the controversial Middle East fiasco. From Oslo Accord to Bill Clinton’s Camp David Accord in summer 2000, Madrid Conference to Prince Abdullah peace plan; none has been work out due to the strict, inflexible and inhuman policies of Israeli government shifting entire blame over the shoulders of Hamas backed suicide bombing un-identifying or avoiding to address the root cause involved in suicide bombing. New leader of Hamas, Abdel Aaziz Rantissi commenting his perception over the role of US diplomacy considers US President George W. Bush as “an enemy of God, an enemy of Islam, an enemy of Muslims” he believes killing could only have taken place with the green light from Washington.
US backed peace processes never gains momentous before Hamas as US considers Ariel Sharon “a man of peace”, a man personally responsible of massacring 1,700 Palestinian civilians in SABRA & CHATILA refugee camp by Israel’s own inquiry commission. Hamas accuses US playing biased or intensive inclination towards Israel, which deprived thousands of innocent Palestinians civilians away from their ancestral cum religious lands. Amid much influential and outstanding pressure from with in Palestinian authority, Hamas was compelled to adopt do or die retaliation towards Israel’s massive air and land strike over civilians, door to door hunt for Hamas activists, arresting, investigating and killing Palestinian posterity.
In 2002 and 2003, Hamas insurrection turns a new pattern of negotiation to adopt a possible suspension of attacks over Israel with the condition that could pulled back Israeli army to its position before intifada. Thus, stipulated efforts behind this agreement between Hamas and Mr. Arafat’s Fatah faction was a minor but significant achievement to bring Hamas and Arafat’s Fatah faction over the negotiation table. But Hamas remained adamant not to sign-up a ceasefire with Israel due to Israel’s nonfeasance & continuous responsibility for the expanded occupation and massive air strike in Palestinian territory. Therefore it would be rather more judicious to comment over current dilapidated peace mission a quid pro quo kind of imbroglio by loosing civilians from both the sides. Or this phenomenon may prevail in perpetum if Israel wouldn’t recognize the legal, constitutional and territorial manifesto of Palestine.
According to Issac Asimov “violence is the first refuge of the incompetence.” This may be true in the case of Israel vis-Ã -vis Hamas quid pro quo criteria. Israeli intelligence’s deprave hard-hearted tactics to confine or eliminating suicide resistance of Hamas is equally devastated targeting members, activist’s even moderate leaders of Hamas comes under wrath of Israeli forces shown at various points. From Salah Shehada’s assassination in 2002 to Ismail Abu Shanab murder in 2003, Hamas had lost many of its active leaders by systematic and well planned assassination attempts by Israel. "The main aim of the Intifada (uprising) is the liberation of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, and nothing more. We haven’t the force to liberate all our land," Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz Rantissi told the BBC in 2002.
Israel’s irreversible mistake of assassinating top notch spiritual leader or founder of Hamas Sheikh Yassin might not leave any opportunity for Israel to carry out or even to plan further target killings over Hamas leaders as it is an open war now. Neither Hamas nor Israel’s hard line extremists will prevent tit for tat implementing or executing criteria of their resisting powers. Recognizing Israel’s status over Palestinian legal and formal territory is out of question for Hamas where they may not willingly compromise with Israel ad infinitum.
The status of Jerusalem is always been a source of controversial between Israel and Palestine. Ground zero in the dispute is a hill in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary. But Israel annexed West Jerusalem after its war of independence and East Jerusalem which includes the Dome of the Rock in 1967. Under no circumstances both the sides (Israel & Palestine) are willing to withdraw from their religious positions over Jerusalem, further intensifying the war of independent and liberal autonomy. Above all, abolishing Palestinian houses & homes forcing them to adopt the refugee conditionality just for the sake of expansion of Israeli settlement’s growing tension is enough for bifurcating Palestinian governmental lobby from Hamas organization and that’s make them distinguished from each other’s principle formalities where former (Palestine authority) tries to retrench barriers with Israel via political cum diplomatic means of negotiations. On the contrary Hamas believes to show strong agitation by way of using arms assailments to liberate Palestine’s former glory/state. Therefore they consider suicide booming or other forms of retaliation the only way-out that would compel Israel to come up with more logical resolutions to give Palestine its original status.
What is more surprising to me is the intolerant attitude of civilized society while distinguishing between freedom fighters and the so called terrorists. If those who fight for their basic fundamental rights come under terrorist philosophy, then what kind of label the liberal cum democratic western society dedicate to a country like Israel possessing illegal occupation of Palestine land which is not theirs. However, to seek peace within Israel and to halt suicide bombing of Hamas addressing the core issues of Israeli’s territorial violation with in the parameters of International Law is definite requirement.
There are mainly three reasons involved failing executions of Middle East peace process or to yield fluctuations with Israel firstly, due to lacking in the understandability of Middle East’s historical cum religious connection with Muslims. Secondly, its Geo-political geographical nature of strategic interest’s mainly by the powerful nuclear states including consistence oil supply for west yields difficulty for interfering status quo of Israel. Thirdly, US inclination towards Israel made Israel exempted from any kind of forcible action or inspection while further embellishing peaceful coexistence of Middle East. Every day majority of the Palestinian innocent people are killed or faces extreme tortures by the Israeli military intelligentsia via searching and illegal arresting, but the condition seems less harmful for the US President Bush, US Secretary of States Colin Powell and other delegated appointee hoping to find a way to come to an agreement.
In this scenario, one may agree that the suicide bombing is the direct reaction and anger of the Palestinian youth against the Israel’s brutality towards them. Here the question arises why NATO and other International communities are not using their power as previously they used it in the Bosnian conflict. Why the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is still appealing for the urgent deployment of a force to the Middle-East instead of pressuring Israel to follow the UN Charter on disarmament policy. What the German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stated that the conflict between the Israel and Palestine could be solved under UN auspices with “military means.” Then why the international communities like EU, UN Security Council, and other humanitarian and legal organizations are not using their own powers to suppress the Israel govt. against their senseless policies. Do they not realize that this is a real war, in which every day civilian casualties are counted in the Israeli created military zones, blocking ambulances from evacuating wounded, preventing journalist to access to these areas, attacking peace keeping volunteers and destroying houses and mosques by the Missile firing Apache helicopters to increase suffering of the innocent Palestinians.
Under the continuous genocide by Israel, It seems world leaders are playing with war of words to clarify themselves on behalf of their local and foreign policies rather than achieving coin of vantage of peaceful resolutions, will they ever be able to deflect or justify general perception regarding Palestine’s current political, economical and above it humanitarian imbroglio originated by Israeli govt. those who earn martyrdom at the very young age including those innocent Israeli’s who were not directly or indirectly involved in any way with Israeli govt. however fall victims under Hamas suicide attacks.
One of the noble blunders Israel has ever made without evaluating the repercussions is not to draw a line or define terminology/essence besides addressing the root cause of terrorism carried out by suicide bombers of Hamas in particular and Palestine in general. One of the drawbacks behind testimonial evidence of Israel strategic imbalanced objective by killing the spiritual leader and founder of Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was definitely a wrong move to suppress freedom fighters of Hamas in Palestine, struggling to gain the access of their liberal, legal and loving homeland.
Even accusing Israel over extreme act of violence by killing Palestinian spiritual leader further elevating suicide bombing options against Israeli civilians, Israel’s dovish opposition leader awarded with 1994s Noble Peace Prize; Shimon Peres while declaring his viewpoint stated over Yassin’s killing as “A mistake, I don’t think we can eliminate terrorism by wiping out leaders, Had I been a member of the government I would have voted against this.”
What ever may be the reason behind killing Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, but the repercussion might not be the favorably advantageous, that could further furnish the spirit of strategically paralyzed vis-Ã -vis fractured policy of Israeli politics in case of Palestinian territories.
Before accusing Hamas for intensified regular attacks over Israeli community, the Israeli administration must realize that the greatest threat to its national security is its own bad policy. Palestine has previously resisted numerous hostile policies of Israel with different humiliated mode of conducts executed against the innocent civilians Palestine already dragging Middle East peace process in jeopardy. What Israel foresees is influential changes within Palestinian leadership. Zalman Shoval, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said "The best one can hope for is to bring down the violence and manage the conflict, but conclusive solutions will have to wait for a change on the Palestinian side," however Palestine in general or Hamas in particular expects from Israel is to gives Palestinian’s their original territories rather than expansion of Israeli settlements over Palestinian land.
Today Palestine’s logic of possession of territorial right back is widely supported by many American’s and other foreign nationals including Israeli’s for the question of justice, human rights and the rule of law prevalent. But the dire need is to change the Israeli inhuman and extremist’s perception over the territorial controversy. Furthermore what is required from international humanitarian cum law enforcing agencies is applying economic and diplomatic pressure on Israel to reach a peace settlement. However, in reality the conflict is of political nature therefore not too impossible to resolve if United Nation’s resolution with global consensus is enforced or imposed by any means.
Will any kind of comprehensive peace settlements, road maps (to nowhere), and diplomatic means of negotiations, assigning special envoys or debating in United Nation’s platform denounce or pressurize Israel to concord harmony and to resolve irritating factor of legal possession of Palestinians over illegally occupied Israeli territories. The only way to immediately halt this persistent routine aggression of Israel is to adopt a strategy in such a way that could help to break down the further advancement of strategic catastrophe or barbaric actions of Israel and reactions of suicide bombing by Hamas. For instance:
1). Suspension of economic, military, political and social cum cultural ties with Israel
2). Imposing strict economic sanctions whenever any kind of military force is utilized over innocent Palestinians
3). Little aid with the tough conditionalties
Immediate suspension of the military support of Israel by allied nations
4). Deployment of the UN peace keeping troops for peace persisting
5).Rejection of membership of Israel from any international financial, legal, and humanitarian communities or platforms
Conclusion:
Target assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, constructing illegal wall (barriers) around the occupied territory of Palestinian violating freedom of motion, using arms and ammunitions at full scale for eliminating suicide bombing of Hamas, violating human rights provisions by killing innocent Palestinian civilians at regular basis and depriving Palestinians from their political, socio-economic opportunities may not implement any road map until and unless Israel does not recognize or dedicate Palestine their legal and religious state. Otherwise, Israel’s rigid attitude will open the never-ending era of suffering for the people of both the sides waiting anxiously for their plenipotentiaries to be relevant on this specific issue. Plus the waiting game may widen the vacuum of economic, cultural and educational dilapidation of both the countries.
